CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Soil moisture levels in Illinois showed little overall change in the first half of August, according to Jennie Atkins, Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring (WARM) Program Manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois.
Precipitation varied greatly across the Illinois Climate Network (ICN) in the first two weeks of August with totals ranging from 0.06 inches in Freeport (Stephenson County) to 2.92 inches at the Rend Lake station near Ina (Jefferson County).
But despite the differences in rainfall totals, soil moisture levels showed no significant overall changes in the first half of the month. Levels at depths of 2 inches averaged 0.24 water fraction by volume (wfv) on August 15 with regional averages ranging from 0.27 wfv in southern Illinois to 0.20 wfv in the west-central part of the state.
Moisture increases were seen at the deeper depths. On August 15, soil moisture averaged 0.35 wfv at 20 inches and 0.44 wfv at 59 inches, 7 to 17 percent above the long-term average.
Soil temperatures were slightly above normal in the first half of the month. Temperatures at 4 inches under bare soil averaged 80.4 degrees, though recorded temperatures ranged from 62.5 to 98.9.
Soil temperatures under sod were 2 to 3 degrees cooler with averages of 78.0 degrees and 77.1 at depths of 4 and 8 inches, respectively.
